Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter

Tails of Iron 2 was provided by United Label for review. Thank you!

I didn't get to play the original Tails of Iron, despite covering a few news articles about it, so I was excited to get my hands on Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter when it came in for review. Souls-like games usually aren't my cup of tea. Although I've been playing games for over 25 years, I never really went for the games that challenge you and require repeated attempts to succeed. Despite that, Tails of Iron 2 has absolutely won me over.

Tails of Iron 2 begins with you as the son of the Warden of Winter's Edge, a fortified rat settlement in the frozen north. It's not long before things take a turn for the worse, and you are quickly placed in charge of Winter's Edge and tasked with rebuilding it to its former glory.

You'll take on quests from your throne room to search the land and recruit the staff necessary for the settlement. Without exception, each one of the potential recruits you meet will be in some sort of situation, usually a perilous one, and it's your job to resolve it before they join your settlement. You can also do a bunch of side quests for resources or money, which you can use to upgrade your equipment or buildings in your settlement.

Let me start by saying that this tale is a gruesome one. While it may at first glance appear to be cute that you're playing as a rat meeting all these woodland creatures, the game doesn't hold back in any way from portraying the situation as it is: a kingdom is at war, factions disagreeing, and that cute creature you were just chatting with did indeed get beheaded before your eyes.

And a "tale" is a great way to describe the storyline of this game, even if we ignore the obvious rat puns I could be making right now. The characters in the game have no dialogue, but the whole game is narrated by Doug Cockle (Geralt in The Witcher), and he does a fantastic job of setting the atmosphere for a dark and gritty tale like this. It does feel like you're playing through some dark fairy tale storybook; the art style combined with the narration aids you in becoming immersed in the world as if sometimes you're just watching a terrible tale unfold, and you're doing your best to stop it and not always succeeding.

The gameplay itself is side-scrolling, souls-like. It's technically "open-world," although it isn't a huge world, like a more linear take on a Metroidvania-style game. You are free to roam at your discretion, but there are not too many secrets in the world, and for the most part, you're best off just following the quest markers for whatever quest you're on then. There's not much reward for exploration, which is a shame, but that isn't the point of the game.

Once you get into the combat of the game, things heat up. Not only are you dealing with souls-like combat where one wrong move can end in your death, but you'll also have to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy. Tails of Iron 2 has four elements: ice, poison, electricity, and fire. So you'll need to ensure you've equipped the right armor and weapons to fight against each enemy you face.

There are a decent selection of weapons at your disposal, from spears and swords to axes and guns. You're allowed to have 1 one-handed, two-handed, and ranged weapon equipped at any one time, each mapped to a separate button on your controller, allowing you to quickly swap between your weapons as the combat situation calls for it. If an enemy is fast-moving, it might be best to try and keep your distance and shoot at it, but you'll have limited ammo, and a melee weapon will do more damage overall.

This isn't even taking into consideration that you get access to a magical spell of each of the 4 elements as you progress through the game, allowing you to unleash a devastating attack periodically. These moves can often stun enemies by freezing them paralyzing them with electricity, or dealing damage over time with a burn or poison effect.

And as you would imagine for a souls-like game, timing your dodges and parries is a must. Getting it slightly wrong can easily result in you taking a huge chunk of damage or being stunned and left vulnerable to further attacks. Pulling off a perfect parry will often stun your opponent, allowing you to get a few easy hits.

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter just ticked the boxes that I wanted it to tick for me. If you're up for an unapologetically brutal adventure in both its story-telling and its difficulty, then it's a perfect fit for you. The cute woodland creatures you encounter are at odds with the world they inhabit, which is unforgiving, and it all blends together very well.

The audio is also excellent. Not only is Doug Cockle's narration excellent, but the ambient sounds that play in the various areas of the game are subtle and beautiful. The sounds of the birds in the forest areas are perfect, and it is one of the rare instances where the game world feels at peace.

If I had to level one criticism against the game, it would be that sometimes things are presented with just imagery, and I'd have liked some text beside it to explain what that button does. Once you learn it, it's fine, but it can lead to some initial confusion.

So the next time you're looking for a game that will give you a challenge and a good storyline, give Tails of Iron 2 some thought.

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter - Steam Deck Performance

Tails of Iron 2 supports the Steam Deck's 1280x800 resolution, but only in name. Even though you can switch between 1280x720 and 1280x800, the game doesn't extend to cover the additional screen space, so you do sadly have to play with black borders along the top and bottom of the game.

The controls, on the other hand, work perfectly. It took a little getting used to using the shoulder buttons for each weapon and remembering what order they were in, but that's my issue. The game is perfectly playable using nothing but the Steam Deck controller.

There are no graphical settings to adjust in Tails of Iron 2 besides Resolution and VSync, which we will keep at 1280x800 and "On," respectively.

We're aiming for a 60 FPS target here, and we can easily reach it. Setting a Frame Limit of 60 in SteamOS and a TDP Limit of 9W is enough to get us there. I didn't notice any frame drops as I played, although you might get the occasional one occasionally in very intensive battles.

The power draw is around 9W-12W throughout, and the temperature was around 55C-60C while I was playing, so you can get a good 4.5 hours of battery life from a Steam Deck OLED and around 3 hours of battery life from a Steam Deck LCD.

Accessibility:

Tails of Iron 2 doesn't have much accessibility. It has subtitles for the narration and good controls for audio mixing, as voices, ambient sounds, sound effects, and music are all separate sliders. You can also disable camera shaking, adjust the difficulty to be harder or easier (although it's still more difficult than your average game), and disable flashing lights.

Conclusion:

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is a brutal tale that feels like it came straight out of a storybook. From its visual style to its excellent narration, right down to its cast of characters, the developers didn't hold back from certain actions if they thought it served the story well to take them, and that's a great thing. I can wholeheartedly recommend that you try Tails of Iron 2 when you can.

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter also runs great on the Steam Deck, with excellent controls, a smooth 60 FPS experience, and great battery life. There isn't much you can say against it, so don't worry about playing this one on the go.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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